Public Places and Quasi‐Private Administration

• Date: 01 May 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2009.02004.x
• Published date: 01 May 2009
• Author: Jonathan B. Justice

Book Reviews 553

Jonathan B. Justice

University of Delaware

Public Places and Quasi-Private Administration

Jerry Mitchell, Business Improvement Districts and the

Shape of American Cities (Albany: State University

of New York Press, 2008). 152 pp. $55.00 (cloth),

ISBN: 9780791473092; $18.95 (paper),

ISBN: 9780791479001.

The business improvement district (BID) is

an increasingly common and highly f‌l exible

institutional design for sublocal governance

that uses special assessments on a designated urban

commercial district’s properties and/or occupants

to f‌i nance the provision of special services, such as

district promotion and marketing, landscaping and

urban design, sidewalk cleaning, and supplemen-

tal security.  e f‌i rst BID was created in Toronto

in 1970, and there are now BIDs on at least four

continents, with annual budgets ranging from a few

thousand dollars to tens of millions.

 e rise of BIDs comes amid a continuing trend,

particularly pronounced in the United States, toward

functional specialization and spatial decentralization

Jonathan B. Justice is an assistant

professor in the School of Urban Affairs and

Public Policy at the University of Delaware.

In addition to business improvement

districts and local economic development,

his current areas of activity include public

budgeting and f‌i nance, organizational

capacity, and bureaucratic transparency

and accountability. Previously, he worked

for nonprof‌i t and government agencies

doing commercial revitalization and capital

program administration.

E-mail: justice@udel.edu

PUAR1999.indd 553 10/4/09 8:11:23 AM